In order to save an ailing Princess and stop an ancient menace, Rarity will travel to strange lands, and down into fathomless depths, in search of the Abyssal Forge. Part Two of the Adamant Triskelion Trilogy, following The Flight of the Alicorn.

Sweetie Belle comes up with a plan to share a summer's vacation with her friends. Little do the young mares know that their trip will not be quite as they had planned. But when has anything ever happened as they planned?

After returning to Ponyville from Canterlot, Sweetie Belle tries her best to find her place amongst friends and family and to remember what it feels like to be home. This story takes place 4 days after the finale of Scion of Chaos.

Nax is a changeling who left all he knew to start a life in Ponyville. But this new life will be filled with peril and Nax will have to make a difficult choice. Will he be a harbinger of war or a paragon of peace? A Story in the Equestrian Cycle.

Do you think that every changeling is bad deep in it’s heart? Do you know that some changelings, especially the mares are nothing better than slaves? My name is Aurora Blue. I’m a half breed and this is my Story.

Den is a pegasus of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Echo is a high class infiltrator of the reviled changeling race. Can their love flourish in an Equestria under threat? Which bounds are stronger love or loyalty? What dark designs lurk in the backdrop?

When the Royal Wedding scatters defeated changelings all over Equestria, a member of the hive winds up being captured in Ponyville, tied up, stunned, shot by a cannon, and held against his will. The truly frightening part is he’s starting to l

Over the years of her life, Rainbow Dash has come across all kinds of magic, from the elements of harmony to transdimentional crossings. But now, a new challenge awaits her. Will she awaken a new power within to save her universe, or die trying?

Final Arc - The Black WeddingCH60 - Pinkamena and Euphoria- Pinkie battles her way to Euporie and confronts the madmare in an effort to break her spell over Canterlot. Meanwhile, around and within the ruined city, battles intensify and the Equestrian counterattack threatens to annihilate the Changeling Swarm.

---It began with a mare from Ponyville and a time-looping Prince from Canterlot. This most unlikely union now stands at a crossroads: a ruthless changeling invasion; a conspiracy within the highest circles of the Equestrian aristocracy; a half dozen power hungry noblemares looking to become a Princess in all but name. With the prize of Canterlot and its Platinum Crown at stake, it falls to six Elements of Harmony to once again save not just Ponyville, but all of Equestria.----TVtropes page is here: link

The prequel to TPC, "The Best Night Ever" is here. linkThe side-story crossover with "Sweetie Belle Chronicles" is here. link

Good to see the fic cycled up and online! I'm still new to FIMfiction, obviously, but with the responses of a few helpful people here I've solved the formatting (indentation) issue and everything should be running smoothly. Heh. It's very nice to be here. This community is to active, it's amazing to me, since I'm used to FFN.388751Pinkie does deserve a tag, I suppose. Alright. Sadly, with so much focus on Rarity and her duel with Antimony, there hasn't been time to focus much on the other mane six. You could say: what we need is for all six of them to get into duels of their own, eh?388816Aristos do seem to have a pretty bad wrap, don't they? But then, I've noticed similar levels of hate for elected officials, too. Quite a few in both cases deserve the vitriol.

People aren't going to abandon FFN entirely, are they? I guess it makes a useful backup archive for fics if nothing else. I've been in FFN for so long, it is kind of hard to expand to other, newer sites. It tends to require vigorous prodding.

388849There's no shame in focusing on what truly matters to the story. The conflict between Rarity and Antimony should be front and centre, and indeed, that is the reason Pinkie deserved her tag; she is the road to Antimony's salvation, if there is salvation to be had... and a chance for it, given the inevitable calling of à outrance in the duel.

Originally read this on Fanfiction.net, it's an excellent sequel to the "Best Night Ever" fic. The changes to Blueblood's personality really effect how he acts and Rarity is learning just complicated being nobility can be. The situations of both Pinkie and Twilight are also interesting, Pinkie torn between old and new friends, Twilight between her friends and her family. The duel is also awesome, showing how magic can make innocuous things like cupcakes dangerous as well as demonstrating how talented and clever Rarity is.

so I stayed up all night reading this on fanfiction.net. you are an INCREDIBLE author. also very erudite and knowledgeable, its always refreshing to read something where its clear the author has "done his research" so to say. I love " worldbuilding" fics like this where we get to know an entire society and how it functions. keep it up. More please!

I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, the tension was so palpable. It's not even slightly clear to me what phase of the story we are at now - whether this duel was the climax or one scene of an ongoing epic. Of course, my favorite thing was Rarity's remembrance of seeing colt Blueblood. Fabulous.

Also, "From this point on, you will be the pony everypony wants to lay low." Best cornball line of the year.

Twilight's comments about Canterlot's secrets are interesting in light of the episode "It's about time.". When talking to Rarity in this story, Twilight acts like she isn't one of the ponies entrusted with those secrets. But in the episode, Twilight casually knows the whereabouts of Tartarus and instantly recognized its guardian. More impressively, when she goes to the locked archives where dangerous time magics are stored, the guards instantly open the way. I see three possibilities for what that might mean for your story:

1. Twilight has access to a few secrets because of being Celestia's apprentice, but not the really juicy stuff guarded by the old unicorn families.

2. Celestia would deny Twilight nothing, and any secret she wishes to know is theoretically open to her, but in typical oblivious Twi fashion she doesn't notice that all doors are open for Celestia's student. Celestia would in fact teach Twilight anything Twi asked, but hasn't volunteered some stuff Twi doesn't ask about.

3. Twilight Sparkle was just being modest and not mentioning all the forbidden lore she knows.

I kind of favor number 2, because I find it hilarious how Celestia always treats Twilight like her heir and Twi is too adorably dense to notice.

BTW, it occurs to me that Rarity could short-circuit all these duel challenges by marrying Bmueblood right away. Present them with a fait accompli that they can't undo.

"There is nothing for you here, Rarity. No sun to brighten your day, no moon to guide you through the night. There are no friends to lean on, to make up for your many weaknesses. No loving family for undeserved support. It is just you, and I. And you will never defeat me. I have felled far greater mares than you, seamstress, mares with powers you can't even begin to understand. Accept your new life, Rarity. I have won, and you have lost. I am the sole victor of this contest. There is no hope for you here, adrift and alone in my domain."

Now that Blueblood is with her and she has more than a sparse week to prepare for what is ahead I think Rarity will become quite competent indeed. Since she is a Lady she won't really have to bother with her business anymore either, which would free up quite a bit of time.

As for Blueblood himself...well he seems pretty important for a glorified master of lines on a map as your last fic had painted him. One interesting thing I noticed is that Blueblood is Celestia and Luna's nephew as well as a direct the apparent descendent of Princess Platinum. But then, couldn't Antimony be considered the niece of the princesses as well? Antimony's family branched off too recently in generational standards for the Bluebloods to marry into the Princess's line...or perhaps they did so after the split in a manner similar to Shining Armor and Cadence?

And here I thought this would be the end, not merely the end of the beginning.

It's nice that this battle did not have to end à outrance; I thought it had to, what with Chekov's gun hanging there almost the entire story, but since this was not the end, it wasn't necessary. I do fear terribly when that gun does go off, though; I just can't fathom what forcing Rarity to kill or be killed would do to her.

I'm also glad that I was right in that Pinkie is Antimony's salvation, a friend who will not take "no, I will not be your friend" for an answer. Cranky Doodle Donkey has nothing on the challenge that Antimony will present the pink party pony, but I think Pinkie is up to the challenge!

I look forward to the tribulations ahead; strangely, though it might seem that the worse challenge is over, as Antimony had defeated all other challengers and was theoretically the strongest, it remains that Rarity's magic of friendship, and Antimony's complete inability to understand it, was what won the day here. If the other mares vying for the Platinum Crown actually have some friends, Rarity's in trouble.

399951I think it's number 2 as well, but less because of Twilight being Celestia's heir apparent and more because, in this world, continuing from the final Gala loop, we have seen just the faintest hint of Twilestia...

Now that I have finished reading the last 6 chapters my mind is blown. So much of this, particularly the duel, kept me at the edge of my seat. So intense. I feel a little exhausted after reading this. Looking back, I am quite pleased with the time I spent reading this and look forward to more.

Krizak sent me over, as I was informed this was one of the best Rarity vs. snooty noblepony rumbles ever ... and Krizak was so, so right. This entire chapter is a tour de force, adrenaline-soaked and with the perfect pace and tension. In particular, I loved the scene where the gathered ponies start yelling Rarity's name--that was lovely.

I'm so glad to see this story here. It's easily one of the best stories I've ever read over the Internet, and it's great to be able to track it on the same site as most of the other stories I'm following right now. Keep up the incredible work!

I like this story a lot. The conclusion of the duel works in a way which I was not expecting, the world building makes sense and the character interactions are both interesting and in character. However, I still had trouble finishing it and I think it was because the Equestria you describe is the least pleasant of the nonDystopian versions I have read. Compare to Order from Chaos in which Equestria is described as a communist monarchy, or Night's Favoured Child, where Empress Nightmare Moon rules, the Prime Minister is not a noble and entry to the Imperial Schools can only be won through merit. I can't even see nobles getting away with this sort of thing in the history sections of Silent Ponyville 3.

When I first started watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic I thought that Equestria had roughly mid 19th century technology. With season 2 showing coal powered trains, a hydroelectric dam and a black and white film reel I revised this to early 20th, and assumed that their social models would roughly match those of the United Kingdom. This story shows that I should have been using.. I'm not sure... Germany? The Holy Roman Empire? as a model instead.

420671It is actually funny you note this. I also pegged Equestria as 19th century; I really should have known better. In the last episode, after all, Pinkie and Twilight mentioned "lasers" so - yeah, it's a crazy cartoon, and the tech is "whatever it wants to be." It's admittedly thrown me for a bit of a loop the last few episodes, though it is amusing how many scenes (like Pinkie's loony toons bit) end up in an episode 2 weeks later. But, but but... Equestria in this fic draws from a few sources (UK, Ancien Régime France, Austria-Hungary), though it is obviously much more stable and peaceful than those countries. It is very much supposed to be anachronistic to us, the modern franchised First World reader.

"Least pleasant but not-dystopian" is fine as a description I suppose. For most ponies (various characters have different views on it) their government structures are non-transparent and only democratic on a local level (town councils and mayors) but also functional in the sense that things been that way for generations and no pony has much desire to change them. Ironically, with no warfare and no capacity for crushing taxation, and a benevolent (if trolly) monarchy that never dies, the common and merchant classes could be seen as having a less worrisome life than the aristocrats, who are both growing increasingly marginalized and impoverished (like Fleur's family) or who are set into personal competition with one another. A succession dispute, like Lady Arsenic's, could have resulted in open warfare on Earth. In Equestria, it is largely handled behind the scenes and bloodlessly, though the repercussions are the root of this story. Anyway, it is whatever the narrative wants it to be.

415113I wrote this as a potential stopping point in the story, to decide later whether to continue or not. If it feels like a potential ending, that's good. It was exactly what I was aiming for. Though it would be a shame to stop here. There's so much left in the outlined story: the mane six and Antimony's former enemies gunning for them, the torc and the Terre Rare plot and Celestia's master plan... etc.

398730Life is Study isn't much of a reference to anything, really, though I did think of "Golden Boy" when I wrote it. Now that could be an interesting story. A studious unicorn making her way across Equestria... studystudystudystudy... (her mentor would have to be molestia for Twilight to really take Kentaro's part in stride)

399951(2) is pretty much on the nose. In Chapter Zero, there's a direct allusion to Twilight being given access to restricted spellworks and forbidden knowledge. If she wants it. She really is kind of oblivious, and hell, probably would be so worked up over learning new stuff she'd gloss over how potentially dangerous it is.

400229I hope it wasn't too cheesy. I'd always planned for the duel to end as it did, but I'll admit I was anxious after I wrote it as to whether the Friendship Ex Machina would work out.

401259Pinkie says it in her smile song. She just wants to make friends and make others smile. Things worked put basically just as the pink one wanted. All part of her master plan to doubt. Her plan being "unpredictability is a plan, right?"

407258The ones we're seeing are also just a small sample of a larger population that mostly keeps itself working behind scenes and spectacle. They're all bureaucrats really. The big, glaring opening presented by Family Blueblood's vulnerability has just attracted more than a few nutters, Antimony and her clan included, though that was business long brewing.

Ah, I'm sure to run out of room in this comment box soon. Better end it here. Thanks again, everyone, for reading and commenting! Sorry I couldn't fit a response for everyone in here. I do very much need to contemplate which projects to devote my energy to as time goes on.

401259 I agree sort of about the Chekhov's Gun nature of the a outrance, but rather I felt like it made for a rather masterful red herring instead without ever needing to go off at all. Because one would think it's going to devolve into that, it just made the tension of the fight all that much more intense. I loved it :D

Rarity certainly has her hooves full, now that she has a place in the Stable of Lords. I'm very interested to know how she'll finance her Barony. Maybe expel a few Diamond Dogs from the gem encrusted hills and start up a mining operation? I'm sure it is within her right as their liege lady. I can't think of any other unique natural resources Ponyville has available to it, unless you count apples.

I very much enjoyed the scene with the Italian Stallion, Germoglio Bianco! Gaudy armour is not something Lady Rarity appreciates. Gaudy dresses, on the other hoof...

I do hope to see Rarity take advantage of her practical skills and relatively pedestrian bearing when dealing with other nobles. It makes her look unprepared and weak, and I think she knows by now that having your foes underestimate you is a powerful tool.

Everytime I see a new ponified place name that is actually clever, I have a little thrill in my heart, and I'm glad to say that Reinice gave me that thrill. (I'm also curious just which languages Twilight Sparkle knows, and how many.)

This was nice, a nice lull in the action to focus on more intellectual troubles and trials, leading into another alternate-universe episode, and finally... the new threat. Time for Rainbow Dash to break out her headband; Rarity needs some pegasus fighting practice, stat.

Ah, excellent. Thanks for catching that! I don't know how these things slip under the rug like this. Obvious little mistakes that get overlooked. So vexing!

Rarity never particularly wanted to be in a position of rulership like she is, but with a rather excellent and her other friends she's well on her way to developing her own way of doing things. Ponyville's financial situation (and by extension, Rarity's) is a serious problem, though, as we saw from the town relying on Applejack's rodeo prize money. She may well have to get creative with it to keep Ponyville out of debt. I do like your idea with the DDs, though. This being a Rarity-centric story (despite all the mane cast being in the fire in this half of the story) and myself being a DD fan (just like WoP) I did plan to have a little something there, in time.

Also glad you liked Germoglio! There's gonna be a lot of foreign ponies in this story soon from every corner of Equestria.

476918Ah, how many languages does that magical bookworm know? It's entirely my fanon, but I'd guess quite a few since this version of Equestria has about a dozen languages in it across as many Duchies. Then again, even in the show, there's Fancy French!

A new challenger approaches? Oh yes. About a half dozen do, actually! Hahaha!

476705Funny enough, the dragon migration stuff was not in my initial outline. I revised to add it in when I saw the episode. That's the thing about writing a fanfic with a season in progress; you need to keep on your toes!

I think the season two finale is going to provide a lot of good material since your fic deals so much with pony nobility.

My current theory; being an alicorn is a highly recessive pony trait with great potential power, so any pony born an alicorn automatically gets the title "Princess". Best to keep them onside, you know?

Like Briefvoice, I think you'll be able to mine the season finale for all its worth. An Italian-sounding alicorn "princess" (somepony named MiAmore Cadenza certainly would fit right in in your world), who foalsat for Twilight Sparkle's family (they must be pretty important nobleponies to have a princess babysitter)? Royal weddings being big to-dos? These things could have been ripped from your pages already, and instead you'll get to reverse engineer them.

I honestly don't know all that much about feudal society or medieval times, but I like your feudal Equestria a lot, complex thought it may be. It seems rather unfair that the pegasi would ask the town to give them more water for their cloud homes, unless they have to pay some sort of levy in lieu of property tax. Otherwise, they receive all sorts of benefits without contributing to the local tax base, due to their DIY houses which require no real estate ownership. Bunch of freeloaders! Given that there are probably a lot of citizens who would take advantage of a leader who was more generous than savvy, I expect Rarity's oversight of Ponyville to go, well, not smoothly.

I was surprised at the Italian mercenaries showing up, and I look forward to learning what their homeland is like. Apparently, this story is going places I never expected when I first began reading, and there will be many more obstacles between Rarity and that platinum crown.

So now I suppose we have a challenger for Rainbow Dash? Might be interesting, even if RD isn't the one who has to take her down.

With the Migration sub-plot added, we finally know the time-frame this altered timeline is set within. I certainly hope you manage to work in the season finale, as I was honestly impressed by those two episodes. Even if you don't, all the super-mares that come to challenge Rarity will be fun to watch.

In Antimony, we saw what a powerful unicorn could do. With Ritter, we will see what a pegasus can do. Will you include an Earth Pony next?

What is the fate of that ancient set of armor you had talked about earlier? Will that villain at the bottom of a river come about? So many questions, and every chapter only seems to add more. Love it.

I started this story about a week ago after noting it over at Flight of the Alicorn, and have just now got caught up. And it seems at a great point too now that we are effectively starting the next chapter in this grand old tale. I have found this story to be immensely enjoyable for a number of reasons (and I gave you your 80th thumbs up as a well deserved result). The world building has been absolutely top notch, and you have clearly put a great deal of thought into the feudal nature of Equestria and the world in general. This has had some of the most entertaining politics I have read, and comes across as quite believable in its own right.

Antimony was a superb antagonist in my opinion. Extremely well thought out, and with very convincing motivations for her actions. It was very entertaining to try and see why she did the things she did, and to what purpose. I could just about see the gears in her head move, and see how she operated.

The buildup and tension for the duel was excellent, and I was at the edge of my seat throughout to see how it went. I really had little to no idea how Rarity was going to pull it off and every twist and turn on the battle played with my emotions. Bravo!

I’m curious if you did active research for this story or not? It would seem you are well versed in medieval politics, society, and culture. I’m have to wonder what you have read to prepare yourself for writing this fanfic. I could use some good summer reading, and I think it would do me some good to learn a bit more about the influences for this story.

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As for this chapter, seems Rarity is hitting the cold hard reality of being a noble, and she is learning it has a lot more to it outside of her trashy romance novels. Time will tell if she is equipped to deal with the responsibilities now on her shoulders. Just the issue of trying to come up with a good gifting for Ponyville could really get her into trouble. Given she wants to make everyone happy with very limited resources. Life seems to like to either give Rarity nothing but choosing between bad choices, or having to choose between a number of good options.

I am curious about what Rarity’s powers, resources, and responsibilities exactly are as Baroness of Ponyville? At least in the past I believe it was implied that the Mayor, as the duly elected representative of the town, and beholden directly to the Princess’s, was the one who largely in charge of running the town and local area (no doubt along with some other local officials supporting her). So has Rarity been placed above Mayor Mare as the overall official of Ponyville, and the Mayor is now beholden to Rarity and is now in a awkward position between having to do what Rarity wants and what the pony’s of Ponyville elect her to do?

What resources does Rarity now have available? Rarity is no longer legally allowed to earn an income as a dressmaker (unless she wants to throw away everything she fought Antimony so hard for), and she personally has no lands or source of income we have seen yet that would normally come with inheriting a noble title considering she got her title solely as a result of “services rendered to the crowns.” It seems from the start she is doomed to go the route of the indebted and impoverished noble right out the gate based purely on her own resources (not counting her sugar daddy in Blueblood at this point). At least from what we have seen considering the fact she needed Blueblood’s money to pay for the mercenaries to protect Ponyville. It is possible she now controls at least some of the taxes of Ponyville, though that has not been explicitly stated as of yet.

If you plan on covering these topics in story then feel free to say so. It just seems that you have put a lot of thought and energy into this world, and I just love to learn more about it. Especially when it pertains to the story. Either way I look forward to your next chapter.

Also it seems we are going to run the gauntlet of my two favorite types of villains. A villain with perfectly understandable and relateable villain with the likes of Antimony, and a complete monster in our new opponent, Ritter. It looks like we might get some awesome Rainbow Dash action in the coming chapters. I certainly hope at least some of the other Mane Six get some action in. Especially as things get even more serious. I have a feeling Antimony was the nicest and most reasonable of Blueblood’s would be suitors (wrap your head around that everypony).

Big update this weekend (and Friday!) Time also to answer some of my awesome reviewers!479591Funny you mention the whole Princess thing, because I've wavered back and forth on just where the title "Princess" is applied in TPC (and TBNE). Cadence kind of threw this for a loop, so out of story, I dropped a few references to "foreign Princesses" in case I needed to explain it away. As it is, I'll have to add her to the rather broad family tree of Celestia and Luna. The Terre Rares, remember, are just one slipping from the Blueblood line, which has married into dozens of families across Equestria over the last 1000+ years. I'd say Cadence (from a Cavallo/Italian family) indeed won the genetic lottery and has been upgraded from distant-relation to niece. Remember, even Blueblood is really just as distantly related to Celestia as Antimony! But... then Antimony reflected on her belief that there were forbidden spells to "make one into an alicorn" as well...

481971Always a pleasure, ponydora. The pegasi do indeed pay a vertical property tax, but their special needs re: the water supply are a special consideration. Still, I imagine pegasi do pay to permanently occupy airspace over a town, especially premium airspace. RD also has a big-ass house of her own, with all those rainbow waterfalls. Her water bill must be huge! But I also wanted her concerns for her fellow Ponyville pegasi and their community to be valid. Rarity is definitely going to face a bit of a problem, as a generous politician can easily put herself (and her town) deep in the red. The annoying thing is having to compromise what can be done with what needs to be done, and how to afford it. Rarity will have to get creative!

485059I hope (and plan) to include the new season two finale, and to use as much of season two's stuff as possible on the way!Lady Yumi (introduced in chapter 11) will be the only earth pony mare in the battle for the crown, and yes, she will showcase the fact that earth ponies can rumble in the top tiers. For that matter, expect all the mane six to get into things, too. Rarity had to physically face Antimony alone. How the Gang of Six can strut their stuff. As for the other questions... wait and see. I keep referencing certain things for a reason.

541409Thank for the review, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story here on FIMfiction!I'm especially glad to hear people enjoyed Antimony's character, since OCs can be a handful. She's gone for now, but Rarity still has her dress for the Art Festival. I'm sure she'll be back for it. As for the background, most of the research I do is for specific terms and terminology. I go by high medieval and renaissance stuff I've picked up over the years. I can't quite remember if any specific part came from any one source.

The second half of your comment raises some very interesting questions which I'm happy to try and answer! Most all of this is, or will be, revealed in the story, but usually only in passing. I don't consider any of this a spoiler.Since accepting the Barony of Ponyville, you can say that Rarity has a power that supersedes that of the elected Mayor (and her staff). This is largely because it is much easier to replace a Mayor at any given election than to petition for the removal of a Baron/Earl. Doubly so since Rarity is in close with both her Duke, Blueblood (who wouldn't remove her on a whim) and the Princess Herself (the absolute head of state). In practice, though, Rarity's powers are actually subordinate to that of the elected government: she can not pass laws or sign them into law (the town council and Mayor do this), and while she can lawfully swear in judges, she has no other input in their decision-making. The town really runs smoothly without her interference!

Her primary responsibilities are security of the town and the roads and the enforcement of laws, along with the protection and advocacy of trade outside Ponyville. If the Apple Family tries to sell apples in another town, Rarity-as-Baroness is supposed to make sure they aren't cheated at the border or at the market. This part of the job actually plays to her strengths: her charisma, personality, refinement, etc. The problem is the "security" issue, which Yumi takes advantage of in chapter 11. Rarity thinks of herself rightly as much happier negotiating a deal around a table and a cup of tea than raising and paying guards to discourage brigands or other criminals.

Lastly, her money: she does have a source of income aside from Blueblood. She has the right to tax ponies and property in her realm (Ponyville and the surrounding farms), along with the right to raise a tax on sales and transactions. Unfortunately for her, Ponyville is not nearly as huge and rich as Antimony's dominion in Prance (Mareseilles). The money situation for her is a real problem! Especially with all the good she wants to do for the town, she could well end up ruining herself in the process!